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Aisle be back: Hurricanes v Reds

Hurricanes | 17 May 2018 | Kevin McCarthy

Aisle be back: Hurricanes v Reds

Above: Jordie Barrett to play fullback against the Reds, with Peter Umaga-Jensen on debut at second five-eighth. 

I wrote last week about the Crusaders’ dodgy discipline and warned it could come back to bite them.

Well, if it hadn’t been for the refs missing Joe Moody’s high shot, it would have bit them real hard. Not even the Waratahs could have duffed that massive lead against a 14-man team, if a red card had eventuated.

Which is not to say the Crusaders are a dirty team, nor that Moody is a dirty player. But they seem to have a penchant for walking the line this season.

But I was gobsmacked by one southern writer suggesting that the worse thing would be for the Crusaders to change their mindset.

I would have thought the lucky miss on Saturday would have any team thinking twice Their grit and calmness in chasing the Waratahs down is all very commendable, but it won’t work against a better side.

The upshot is Moody is suspended for two games, and the Hurricanes can be glad they will be an innocent benefactor of that come May 25 and the big showdown in Christchurch.

That’s the probable conference decider, but in fact this weekend shapes up just as crucially.

The dream scenario is for the Blues to finally win against Kiwi opposition and edge the Crusaders at Eden Park.

RLM

More realistically, if they can lose but stop the Crusaders winning a bonus point, then the Canes could head to Christchurch knowing they could lose that match and still top the table on points differential.

That’s making a lot of assumptions I know. But crazier things have happened.

So the Canes continue to travel well. It really has me a bit worried. When will it all end.

Then again, you wouldn’t wish a loss on them, and they used their get out of jail card against the Sharks.

Saturday’s bonus point win and the Saders’ close call was all to the Canes benefit on the table.
The Reds surely are bonus point fodder, even if the chance is taken to rest some of the heavy hitters.

Indeed, you have got to wonder about a team that won’t perform for Brad Thorn. The Brad Thorn. Perhaps he’s the latest great player to confirm he isn’t a great coach.

Then again, he doesn’t have a lot to work with.

The Boks I see have decided to start picking their overseas-based players again. I read a while back that basically some 200 good to more than good players were plying their trade overseas.

That should strengthen them for the Rugby Championship which the All Blacks should welcome – we need to feel the heat 18 months out from the World Cup, especially with a few veterans out of the picture for at least the early part of the season.

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It should be reassuring for Peter Umaga-Jackson to see the backline he is slotting into this weekend on his Super Rugby debut for the Canes.

It ain’t too shabby to have Barrett B inside you, and Matt Proctor outside.

The Canes’ depth is greater than I can ever remember, and they’ve got the luxury of blooding someone new and promising in a lesser match.

It’s a knack that has paid off in the past two seasons, with players like Ben Lam biding their time off the bench before truly igniting this year. It’s very much what the All Blacks try to do.

However there’s always a risk of key positional losses that would be hard to paper over in the run-in. I’m thinking of course most recently of halfback, where TJ’s absence was sorely felt.

And it seems only a day or two ago that poor Vince Aso was being cast as the unlucky man shut out of the 23 – even that he should really be looking to ply his trade elsewhere.

Lo and behold he’s now out for the rest of the season. It’s a cruel sport and you sometimes wonder how much depth is depth enough.

Kevin is a lifetime Hurricanes fan. He and his partner are on a two-year Volunteer Service Abroad posting to Vanuatu's Espiritu Santo island. He's working on a project to build a South Pacific World War 2 museum on the site of an enormous Allied base on the island. Check it out at www.southpacificwwiimuseum.com

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